My name is Nick Fisherman III. It's not my real name, but that's not because I'm trying to hide from my former agency, or something. I named myself after someone I've known for most of my life, and he chose it in honor of his late best friend. I took up writing when I found myself failing 8th grade science, and realized I might never reach my dream of becoming a biochemist, a meteorologist, and a quantum physicist. I started developing my canon after a scouting trip to an island inspired what I thought would be my first novel. I founded this website upon the advice of many people, who told me I needed to get my work out there, and not wait for an agent to accept my manuscript. You can expect one new story every day. Weekdays are for microstories, which are one or two paragraphs long. They're usually only thematically linked, so you won't have to read one to understand another, but they do sometimes tell a combined story. Sundays are for my continuous longer story, The Advancement of Leona Matic, which I started in the beginning, and won't end until 2066. Saturdays are for long series, most of which take place in the same universe as Leona, and add to the larger mythology.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Microstory 556: Are Criminals Running The Core?

Conspiracy theory blog, tabloid, crackpot salon. That’s what they call this publication. And you know what? They may be right. Everything I’ve said here, every time I’ve tried to open your eyes, it may be just all a big pile of nonsense. But what if it isn’t? What if even a small part of the claims I’ve made are true? What would you do then? Would you act, or just accept the status quo. Because the status quo might not be what you think it is. If you’re afraid of the solar system’s leadership as it’s known by the public, imagine what you’ll feel if you find undeniable proof that this leadership is actually full of criminals. Now, hear me out. I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve received some evidence that this is at least partially true. And it would make some level of sense, because the government as we know it doesn’t really seem to exist at all.

Centuries ago, when our ancestor began mapping out our new civilization, one thing they wanted to accomplish was a society that quite literally ran itself. If you set up so much regulation, and so many guidelines, and you indoctrinate the entire population to agreeing with you, you don’t need to do anything to keep it that way. If you break the rules, the law is clear on what happens to you. If you’re dangerous enough, you’re thrown into a solitary tower. If you’re better off leaving, you’re shipped off to an exile planet. If it’s just a minor infraction, you’re taught to curb your behavior. No one has to sit there and decide what happens to you, because we already know. But what if that’s not enough? What if our ancestors realized that this kind of infallible society simply was not logistically possible? We now live with hundreds of billions of people across dozens of planets. The chances that our system works perfectly may be higher than you might find on, say Earth, but still can’t be 100%. Nothing is 100%. Something always gets through.

I personally believe that true automation cannot be achieved, and that you always have to have some kind of oversight. So the question at that point is, who belongs to this oversight? You might assume respected leaders in their fields, or a shadow government of people without any records, or perhaps the Martians just enforce their laws in secret. It probably wouldn’t even occur to you to even consider that it might be criminals. Afterall, that’s insane. But is it? Maybe the fact that they wouldn’t even come to mind is exactly what makes them perfect for the job. Throughout history, on multiple planets, criminals have proved to respectively have a phenomenal grasp of how things work. They’re able to get away with their crimes, because they’ve learned to exploit the system’s vulnerabilities. Who better to shore up our vulnerabilities here than those who were born with the natural inclinations towards using them to their advantage? We don’t really know what prison towers look like. Perhaps they’re luxurious paradises, with everything a resident might need. They’re treated well, able to satisfy their urges through controlled virtual reality, and occasionally asked how to run the galaxy. Doesn’t sound so crazy now, does it? I’m not saying that all of this is true. All I want you to do is think...could it be? What are we missing? What are they keeping from us?